Divemaster

[h00hbt]

Never knew it went under the name Divemaster?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :B:SS:US:1

/H

[retroleds]

Generally a bad idea to go diving in a flashy silver watch,the barracudas(and sharks) would rip your arm off in a flash. One of the Riehl brothers told me the one that is solid black was the one intended for serious diving...at least if you were going into waters with bigger critters present. Cool box though...reminiscent of the curved Sunwatch box.

[Fitron]

He must have been a rich kid indeed to have bought one of these. A crack in the case could mean water ingress (ask bruce what happens then :wink: ).

I was followed by a barracuda in Belize some years ago, whilst having trouble with my reel, then I discovered I'd not put my mask band on and it was held on only by pressure whilst this monster was about 6 feet behind me the whole time, oh then I went too deep and flashed my cojones to my dive (female) buddy. Not my best dive but not my worst either.

[Seer Taak]

I may have imagined this, but i'm fairly sure I remember Dot Matrix mentioning diving with his Synchronar with no probs?

[dot matrix]

I have dived while wearing a Synchronar - once with a black ceramic and a few times with an all SS one. They were relativey shallow dives, no more than 50 or 60 feet.

During the dives, I had no problems with barracudas and the watches worked great. But according to Roger the diving most likely contributed to the later failure of both watches. The salt water can enter through micro-cracks in the Lexan module and over time migrate through the gel, eventually causing shorts and corrosion. The symptoms were that months later the watch wouldn't stay charged - the time it could hold a charge kept getting shorter, elements in the digits started to fail one by one, and functionality became increasingly erratic. I believe that one watch failed completely, the other may have remained partly functional I'm not certain.

At any rate, I advise against diving with a Synchronar, Sunwatch, or Divemaster.

[retroleds]

I was mainly commenting on the SS case....everyone I know who does actual ocean/sea diving says you can't wear anything flashy or you risk getting attacked. I'll spit it out:I'm thinking that maybe that watch and case weren't originally a set. No disrespect to the seller intended, if he/she lurks here. :?

[Synchroserious]

There is a member on this forum that has not come out and told His Story about traveling through the equivelent of 3 oceans at sea in the Navy and all his shipmates were amazed that his watch was the only one still telling the time for the last months at sea while keeping a log and found it had lost only 2 seconds!


I will be one of the first to say different years and batches had differing characteristics where it boils down to 4 Important factors :


1. Quality of Lexan mold .
Over heated molds cause the Lexan to be almost half as tolerant to temp change and resist elements,such as miniuture surface cracks.
2. A good bond seal at the plug area and entire meeting of the top red and black bottom.
3. A good production run of batteries that don't leak much or expand,cause major corrosion problems etc.
4. The outcome and performance of the Gel used.It needs to block water and Ion diffusion and or spread of any potential CB/IC corrosion threat.


Anyhow the Divemaster was great down in the deep dark but fizzled out from the hands free lit back LCD,s that surfaced that were good for 50-100m I think.Actually thats what the ET flasher on a MK IV was intended for. To give the diver a peak at how long he was under without shooting himself in the wrist while trying to press a button and calculate.

[notonly1]

In a conversation I had with Roger a few years ago he told me about this watch. He said that it was intended primarily for the Japanese market and that the case (similar to the Sunwatch without the metal bar down the middle) was made from cast zinc instead of stainless steel and that it would deteriorate after a while around the springbar holes from the salt water and eventually break out. Although I'm pretty certain about this information, it has been a while since that conversation and my memory may be a little hazy. I hope that Howard would correct any errors that I may have made.

[Synchroserious]

Your pretty close and thanks for allowing me a chance to tell what I know hopefuly without sounding obscure.All Divemaster watches(which really were the Sunwatch version with cheaper band and case) were made of Stainless Steel.Shortly after 1978-79 when Divetime Ind quit marketing the watch as the Divemaster cases where then made out of Chrome plated Zinc/Nickel alloy metal.
And yes it was discontinued almost 25 years ago for it,s salt water corrosion band pin hole widening problem.The Synchronar/Sunwatch had to make cutbacks somewhere in those days in order to survive.When I made my first watch 22 years ago the idea of selling a SW was already abandoned.I did make SW (no Bar) modules for people that had that type of case and just needed a new module.
The case is identified as the flat cornered one with no bar.Even the flashy gold colored flat cornered case described at one site as unknown model is only an econo gold colored Zinc alloy from the early 80,s.

Back to the Divemaster ,it represents the prediction RWR made in 1971, that 10 years from now the watch will be mass produced and selling for less than $50.00.Well folks he was off by 2 years(1979 instead of 81) beacause that is what Riehl Time corp sold them to distributors like Divetime Ind for.Some units were shipped to Japan as they also were trying to distribute and or copy the watch.However they were predominately a mail order in the US type product,leaving it somewhat unrecognised in Europe.Several Dive shops also carried the Divemaster and Skin Diver Magazine did a (good) review stateing that it was a better watch than the ones they had purchased a few years earlier from Ragen.

[notonly1]

As I said, it was a long time ago and I figured I was a bit off on some of the facts. Thanks for the clarification Howard.

[Synchroserious]

Your welcome